Might Guy vs Madara.1. The hype of the eight gates gets resolved.2. You learn his backstory and relationship with father3. Illustrates the pivotal theme of nurturing the next generation.4. Madara declares him the strongest taijutsu fighter he has ever fought. 5. The fight sequence was cool.

For me, I really enjoyed the Rock Lee vs Gaara fight. It was the fight that made me decide to stick with Naruto and cemented Rock Lee as a favourite of mine throughout the series.

From his introduction to this battle, Lee's established as the underdog, he has severe limitations on his skill set, but rather than treat this as a handicap, it's made him stronger. It's the underdog done right, so often in shonen shows they get that bit wrong I find. Also the "power up" is done very well and doesn't come out the blue. Both the 8 gates and removing the weights fit Lee's character. It helps they're both excellent foils to each other. Gaara is impassive, stoic and cold. Lee is earnest and courageous. Their combat styles are opposite to one another, but it works. There's character development, the pacing is spot on. The false finishes and hope spots are superbly done. The OST and animation are both well done and add to the intensity of the fight, it really feels fast and furious when it needs to be. Most importantly, the right person won. By the end of the fight, Lee has won everyone over and we're desperate to see him triumph. But he doesn't. Even with the biggest heart and a will of iron, he still can't overcome Gaara. It was so refreshing to see this in a shonen, as it's not normally the case. Also by having Gaara defeat Rock Lee (and try to kill him) it establishes a real dislike for Gaara, we hate him for what he did and we want someone to take sweet sweet revenge.

That fight first put it in my mind that the injuries that will be in the Naruto universe will be as real as can be. I mean I thought he'd only need some recuperation, but that brought up the plot point of the life-threatening surgery, and the epic return of Lee when he fought Kimamaro, which I'll say is definitely one of the good fights out there. Once again Taijutsu faced off a bloodline and ability way beyond his abilities, but he prevailed. It was quite epic.

I have quite a few, and not in any particular order. Though a lot of the fights are from Shippuuden, I still think a lot of the greatness of the fights was lost when people like Kaguya were allowed to walk into the story. You just don't feel the threat of a well thrown kunai after seeing something like that.

And on that note.

1. Kakashi vs Zabuza I and II

Spoiler

Being the first ninja mission, I'd like to just paint the whole arc as a juicy morself of great ninja fighting and techniques. The sheer cheapness of those goons who hid in puddles to assassinate team 7 to the actual battle between Kakashi and Zabuza - The fact that the sharingan was such a chakra consuming ability and that weaponry is in the forefront of ninja fighting. When Zabuza reveals his backstory and Kakashi is there to face off against him you know that the jounin fight on a different level - The level of putting your life on the line. I'll never forget the feeling of reading these battles.

2. Orochimaru vs The Third

Spoiler

Orichimaru maintained his creepy ninja strength throughout the series, and a fight where he brought two resurrected Kage was exactly just like him. This fight had the old man dressing up in battle armour and using all he could to match up with his wayward student, and when he finally used that final horrifying jutsu I really think should just be banned, you get shivers down your spine. Some jutsus should not be messed with.

The ending was also totally unexpected from my side.

3. The Battle of The 3

Spoiler

Though the battle does not last long, I loved the whole meetup and the epicness of it all. The use of combatant large creatures was also a great part of the naruto universe. That whole biting your thumb thing to summon an epic toad with a sword - So Naruto, so cool. I miss the importance of such animals in battles later down the line. I mean the tailed beasts count I suppose, but they were truly just chakra canons, rather than physical beings that bit and hit their way to victory.

(I still remember the image of the sword buried in the forest when Naruto summoned the toad to fight Gaara. Oh man, that training was so interesting, but it never got utilized again. Not in that sense)

4. Naruto vs. Pain

Spoiler

Though I disagreed with the so-called 'final' battle, where Naruto used the all powerful word-no-jutsu to end it all and somehow lead to the resurrection of all important killed characters, in the thick of it, it was intense. This was one of the few fights I forgave for people being overpowered because it had all those great hallmarks of a good ninja fight - Conservation of power, a quick need to learn the ground rules of the battle. Naruto saving up his clones who were absorbing the sage essensce, calculating the time between Pain's abilities and the use again of summoned toads made it all completely for me.

And for once, Naruto looked like he really had grown up. It was a great climax to all his training. Again, a pity about how it all ended. [/img]

5. Sakura and Chiyo vs Sasori

Spoiler

Puppets made out of living corpses, poisoned weaponry, a limited antitode and a need for precise motor skills to battle. There was rarely a jutsu here that didn't fit the naruto universe, and if Sakura kept on getting into such fights and being epic, I'd have ended up loving her character completely. Still, she really shone in this arc.

This battle makes my brain tingle, especially because it introduced a ninja art that wasn't some sort of element or anything like that. It was a whole different bag of tricks, and in conjunction with the scrolls that summoned weaponry and other things I just wanted to do hand seals myself - In a safe corner of the room away from all of this. Because it was terrifying. Very few things match up to realizing Sasori had killed a Kazekage and turned him into a doll, and when Chiyo brings out her puppets that had raided a castle alone, he brings out hundreds of puppets that had taken down a country. Amazing.

The ending as well, was brutal. The flashbacks didn't even bother me when they came in. Truly a shining battle in Naruto.

It doesn't hurt that we thought Gaara was dead and gone - for then, anyways.

6. Sasuke vs Itachi

Spoiler

A crown ninja fight if there ever was one as well. The fight starts with a too damn cool illusion where Sasuke stabs Itachi, and the battle hadn't even started yet. It was finally time for emo-bro Sasuke to fulfill his revenge, and I was fully engaged in seeing how this would turn out. Sasuke was also someone I barely tolerated, but I could feel his fury, and Itachi had that coldness to him that still hid everything that he stood for.

The fight seemed one sided at first, but then Sasuke brought out ameterasu, and his epic lightning jutsu that could not be dodged. (And that he rarely used again). The entire fight started from some awesome taijutsu, to some awesome jutsus. And I can still recall the ending in my mind. Itachi had just been trying to save his brother the entire time. Beautiful. Truly fitting of a battle between Uchiha

7. Madara vs Hashirama

Spoiler

One of the few landscape-altering battles that I'll ever forgive in Naruto. However it answered the question about what sort of epic battle went down between the ninjas, and what it was all about. It was not great in the way of small scale ninja techniques and stakes, but it was a satisfying read.

An honourable mention for fights would be when the genin went after Sasuke. The individual battles were really fun to see.

Obito vs Kakashi obviously, since most of it was taijutsu and weapons. It was very well animated and directed in the show.

Madara vs Shinobi Alliance/Five Kages for how insanely overpowered Madara was, and he knew it. He knew he was awesome. You could sense the feces hit the fan when he was able to break himself free of Edo Tensei.

I would say the final Naruto vs Sasuke fight if it had more hand-to-hand fighting instead of giant Tailed Beast nuke spam. The resolution to that fight was amazing though, the biggest payoff of the series.